In the summer of 1975 Ann Matteson was working for her husband Jim Matteson, an Architect in Klamath Falls. She was approached by three sub contractors, Rod Bell of Bell Hardware, Stan Thomas of Thomas Sheet Metal and Bill & Marguerite Henris of Henris Roofing about starting a Plan Room in Klamath Falls. They wanted a local plan room so they wouldn’t have to travel out of town to bid on jobs. These fine gentlemen neglected to mention that others had tried unsuccessfully to open a plan room here, but Ann sent out circulars requesting interested contractors and sub-contractors to contact her.

The Klamath Builders Exchange opened it’s doors in the Spring of 1976 after receiving 25 supporting responses. Maude Cameron, Manager of Shasta Builders Exchange, Redding, CA was very helpful with advice on an outline for the KBE Newsletter. Fred Morlan, Owner of Medford Builders also gave his advice and support.

Ann started in a very small room with a typewriter, telephone and drafting table. She used Jim’s copy machine to run off the newsletter once a week. One day Jim’s secretary eagerly suggested that they move their blueprinting machine into the KBE office enabling Ann to also start a Blueprinting service. How did this benefit Jim’s office? It didn’t take long to figure out! Along with the new blueprinting service came the ever present odor.

The Klamath Builders Exchange today has 155 members and is a member of the International Builders Exchange Executives. The K.B.E. staff includes, Jeff Matteson, Assistant Manager, Lena Worthington and Debra Matteson Ernst.